Nonentity
by RicochetXD
Summary: Bill's last moment, there was fire, and then nothing. Six months later, Soos has a very special guest living in the Mystery Shack's attic. But the loss of a particular dream demon has unforeseen consequences on the inhabitants of Gravity Falls and this time the Pines aren't there to save them. It's actually rather hilarious how that worked out.


Sixty degrees that come in threes,

Watches from within birch trees...

 _I could feel the sting of the heat hit my face. I turned to run, but there was nowhere to go, just more fire._

Saw his own dimension burn,

Misses home and can't return…

" _Please no!" I said, trying to escape those blue flames. They were everywhere, suffocating me, drawing closer._

Says he's happy. He's a liar.

Blame the arson for the fire.

" _I won't die here!" I screamed. "I'm not going to die here!"_

If he wants to shirk the blame,

He'll have to invoke my name.

" _Dude," I heard a voice say._

 _I glanced around, looking for the source, desperate for someone, anyone to save me._

One way to absolve his crime,

A different form, a different time.

" _Help me," I whimpered and the flames engulfed me._

 _The pain. There was pain everywhere._

 _I couldn't think. I couldn't-_

"Dude! Wake up!"

I felt myself being roughly shaken awake.

I sat up, gasping for breath, my heart beating rapidly in my chest.

"Dude," Soos said, his hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath, blinking and looking around the room.

That's right. I was safe. There were no flames eating at me. I wasn't dying. I wasn't hurt. I wasn't-

"Hey," Soos's grip tightened on my shoulder. "Talk to me. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," I gasped out, then carefully removed his hand from my shoulder. "I'm okay now."

I glanced around the room to reassure myself of where I was, the Mystery Shack's dark attic giving me some measure of comfort. There was a draft coming from the window, boxes lining one wall filled with old props and broken exhibits that Soos said he'd get around to fixing eventually. My bed was pushed back in a corner, covered in old sheets he'd gotten from his grandmother. I hadn't wanted to mess with anything from the beds downstairs. I wasn't going to stay here long, after all. Just until…

"Was it that dream again?" Soos asked, concern in his voice.

"It's fine," I said, waving him off.

"No, it's not," Soos said. "You were screaming in your sleep. If I could hear you, so could the gnomes. We won't be able to keep your presence here a secret for much longer."

I looked down at my hands, staring at a freckle on my left hand's knuckle.

"I can't go back home, Soos," I said softly. "I can't do it."

"Here," he said, lifting his shirt and taking a piece of candy out from his belly button. "This will make you feel better, dude." He held it out.

"Although I… appreciate the gesture," I said slowly. "Wouldn't you rather eat it yourself?"

"Anything for a friend, dude." He grabbed one of my hands and put the candy in my palm, giving me a smile. "Just be sure you unwrap it before you eat it. We don't want another incident like last time."

"I was only copying your behavior," I said.

"I'm not the best role model," he said with a shrug.

"Thanks," I said.

"Do you think you can get back to sleep?" Soos asked, getting up.

I shook my head, drawing my knees closer to myself.

"Come downstairs then," he said. "I'll make you some hot chocolate or something. I don't know. What will make you feel better?"

"World domination?" I suggested.

He scowled in response to that. "Not funny. I'm going to go put the pot on the stove. Join me when you're ready." He walked across the room without another glance, going down the stairs and out of sight.

I flopped back down on my bed, closing my eyes a moment and trying to get rid of the dream.

"Axolotl…" I whispered. "Just what are you doing?"

I waited, but of course there was no response.

There was never a response from him.

I opened my eyes and turned to look at the window. The Eye of Providence. Since Weirdmageddon, it'd brought me nothing but misfortune. Getting irrationally angry, I sat up and tossed my pillow at it, where it bounced off harmlessly.

"Great," I muttered. "I'm just full of reality-defying power today, aren't I?" I hopped off my bed, my bare feet hitting the wooden floor with a slight creaking noise. I readjusted my t-shirt and then proceeded to walk across the room towards the stairs. I shot one last glance at the window, then paused in front of the full-sized mirror.

The last time I'd seen myself in it, I had looked entirely different.

My hair had been brown and I'd been smaller. I still had two eyes, why wouldn't I, being human, I supposed? But now they didn't match as nicely as they had at the time.

I raised a hand and touched my face with my fingers, the freckled skin giving way with an almost eerie sensation.

It was all new to me. Touch. Smell. Pain…

Pain wasn't a joke anymore.

It hurt. And it wasn't funny when it did.

I'd had no idea why Pine Tree had looked so distressed. I thought the whole thing was rather clever, stealing his body like I did.

I thought that I'd become human.

But I really hadn't.

Not at the time.

Now though…

It was different.

I ground my teeth together, biting the tip of my tongue as I stared into my own eyes.

One was familiar, that yellow color that was just… me. The other one was human though, an impossible blue that would look quite ordinary compared to the other meat sacks. I blinked my eyes, one at a time, trying to decide if I looked any more demonic with my blue eye closed or perhaps more human with my yellow one lidded.

Six months ago, I decided that I wanted to live. I'd called upon an ancient power to save my own life as Stan Pines erased his own memory to kill me.

I hadn't known what the consequences would be. I might not have asked to be saved if I did.

No, I corrected myself. This was still better than being dead.

Being stuck in a human body with Question Mark taking care of all my needs? Why not?

But the fact that I had needs after being an inter-dimensional reality-bending demon was at the very least humiliating.

Moreso since I barely knew how to keep this meat sack alive.

I ran a hand through my yellow hair and turned away from the mirror, taking a jump down the stairs.

I landed with expert balance at the bottom, my arms outstretched and my feet together.

I grinned. I wasn't completely helpless, I supposed.

I could still move this body as I wished.

I opened the door, stepping out into the hallway of the first floor. I walked quickly towards the kitchen. It was much more inconvenient than floating, but it seemed to get the job done.

When I arrived, Soos was at the stove, stirring the contents of a pot, his expression focused. When he heard me come in, he turned his head just slightly towards me.

"Almost ready, dude," he said. "You took your time, didn't you?"

"Still adjusting to my body," I said in excuse, sitting down at the table.

"That's cool," he said dismissively, then poured two mugs of hot chocolate.

I could smell it from where I was.

It was odd. All my senses used to overwhelm me, at first. But now I almost took them for granted.

"I was thinking," Soos said, giving me a mug. "We should come up with some excuse for you to be here so you don't have to hide in the shack all the time. You might be able to go out and meet people. Make some friends."

"Oh no," I said, shaking my head furiously. "I don't want to get more involved with anyone than I have to. I just want to recover my powers and go home. I won't even try to bother this dimension anymore. It's too much."

"We could say you're my cousin," he said, considering. "Probably from my dad's side since you're obviously not hispanic."

"Soos," I said, then pointed at my own eyes. "Anyone would know who I was immediately." I took a sip of the hot chocolate. Surely that settled the whole discussion.

"We could cover the one," he pointed out. "With an eyepatch. Like a pirate. It'd be cool, dude."

"No," I said. "Not happening."

"I actually got you one," he said, walking over to the fridge and opening it.

"You kept it in the fridge?" I asked.

"Sure. Why not?" he asked, taking it out then handed it to me.

It was a small patch with plain black leather. It wasn't much to look at, but I supposed it didn't have to be. Its purpose was to cover my eye, right?

"I'm still not going out," I said stubbornly. "I've been just fine in the mystery shack."

"Your nightmares have gotten worse," he said. "Bill, I'm concerned about you."

I laughed at that one. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"No really, dude," he said. "I can't fix you or whatever to send you back to your own dimension, but I can help meet your other needs. And one of those is talking to other people. Not just me. Try it on at least. Let's make sure it fits."

I knew he was probably going to pester me until I gave in, so I lifted it up, fumbling with it a moment before I managed to get it over my head, and over my yellow eye.

"There," he said with a nod. "Now you look human."

"That's just great, Question Mark," I said sarcastically. "Can I take this off now?"

"Yeah just-" he started when the door burst open.

"Soos!" a female's voice rang out.

I froze for a moment then turned to try and escape back upstairs.

I wasn't fast enough.

The red-haired human burst into the room, her clothing ripped and torn, an axe in her hand. Her hair was a mess, the pine-tree cap she'd gotten from Dipper planted firmly on her head. She paused when she saw me, her eyes passing over me.

"Dude, what's the matter?" Soos asked.

"Zombies, gnomes, unicorns," she said. "It's more like what _isn't_ the matter. Everything came out of the forest all at once."

I shrank back, trying to evade notice as much as possible. "I'm going to my room," I said weakly to Soos.

"Who's this?" the redhead asked, her eyes fixing me to where I stood.

"This is my cousin," Soos said immediately. "Dude's from my dad's side of the family. Came to live with me recently."

She glanced between me and Soos. "He doesn't look anything like you." She suspiciously narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure he's not just some kind of gnome or something in disguise?"

"Dude's legit," Soos said. "His name's William."

"William huh," Red said. "Well, I'd say nice to meet you, but under the circumstances, that's going to have to wait." She turned her attention back to Soos. "We need to do something?"

"What do you want us to do?" Soos asked with a shrug. "We don't have any of the journals or anything."

"Something must be scaring them out of the forest," I mused quietly. "Get rid of that, and everything should go back to normal."

Red's eyes shot to me again, a look on her face like she was trying to place me from somewhere. I stood there as meekly as I knew how, trying desperately to evade notice. Though, that was impossible with how much I was talking.

I gave a nervous laugh. "I'm… gonna go upstairs." I ducked my head and slipped by her.

"Wait, kid," Red said, grabbing my arm. "You think there might be something in the forest?"

"Well," I said slowly. "That should be the obvious conclusion, don't you think? If the monsters are all coming out of the forest at the same time, that means something's scaring them out." I scratched my head. "Probably a demon."

Red immediately let out a huff. "Bill," she said.

"What?" Soos and I both said simultaneously, rather quickly.

"It must be Bill in the forest," she said. "That's the only explanation."

I glanced up at Soos out of the corner of my eye.

"He got erased though, right?" Soos said slowly. "He couldn't have escaped that."

"I don't know," Red said. "Can you think of anyone else that could scare an entire forest out of hiding? Any other _demons_?"

I could think of a few.

"Wendy…" Soos said slowly. "I don't think it's him, dude."

"Well there's only one way to know," Red said. "Get dressed. We're going to find the source of the monsters and get a handle on this situation." She glanced at me. "You too, William. You do go by William, right?"

"Not usually," I muttered.

"Well what do you usually go by then?" she asked.

"Will," Soos answered for me. "He goes by Will more often than not, right dude?"

"Sure," I said. "But why do you want me to get dressed?"

"You seem to know what you're talking about," Red said. "So you're going to help us hunt down that demon."

"Great," I said unenthusiastically. "Could we do it tomorrow though? I need my sleep."

"Now," she said firmly. "Go get dressed."

" _Fine_ ," I said and then took off running down the hall without a backwards glance.

This was going to be a pain. A huge one.

I guessed the best thing about this situation was that Soos had made me put on the stupid eyepatch right before she arrived. If he hadn't…

I put my hand over my eye, feeling the leather.

"Back to one eye I guess," I said to myself, mustering my will.

Okay, so if it was a demon, maybe it was one from the mindscape.

Maybe he had come to save me from this meat sack I was inhabiting.

Yeah, that sounded actually rather nice.

I smiled to myself, running up the stairs with renewed vigor.

Maybe I was escaping this hell that Axolotl had made for me.

I hadn't really had an occasion to wear clothes since I'd gotten here. At least not the bed clothes I wondered around the Shack in. But Soos had supplied me with regular ones too.

I went to a box in the corner and pulled it out, opening it up so I could get at the clothes Soos had given me.

I pulled out a pair of jeans, then I looked at the shirts with some growing amount of irritation.

Soos hadn't given me any real choice with the selections. There wasn't anything yellow or remotely Bill-like among them. Just stupid human cheap five dollar shirts that said weird things like "Zombies Hate Fast Food" and "Can't Get Out of Bed Send Help". I finally settled on a faded red shirt that read "Senpai Will Never Notice You" and put it on. I fumbled with the pants for a moment before sorting out which way they were supposed to go and pulling them on.

I grabbed a couple socks and the black converse shoes next to my bed and put them on, finishing by pulling the laces tight. I went to look at myself in the mirror and was shockingly disappointed that I looked absolutely nothing like myself.

I was like the yellow eye was the only thing of mine I had left and now that it was covered…

I looked like a human kid. Probably no older than Pine Tree.

It was embarrassing.

Maybe I didn't want the demon to see me like this. I'd never live it down.

I ran down the stairs then, back out into the main shop part of the Shack.

I hadn't often come out to this part of the house. It felt almost like a different world. The Pines' world.

And I could never belong there.

"That was fast," Red said from behind me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, turning quickly to face her, a flush on my cheeks. "Don't scare me like that," I said.

"Relax, Will, it's fine," she said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Soos is taking his time, of course but…"

"You and Soos seem really fond of each other," I said.

"Yeah, I suppose," Red said. "I mean, we were coworkers for the longest time."

I gave a short nod.

"As for you," Red said. "He never mentioned he had a cousin. At least not on his father's side of the family. As far as I knew, he didn't talk to anyone on that side."

"It's complicated," I said. "Soos could probably tell you better than I can."

"How old are you kid?" she asked.

 _Older than you_ I thought, but I said, "Thirteen?"

"That's Dipper's age," she said, suddenly looking interested. "Do you know Dipper maybe?"

"I've heard of him from Soos," I lied casually. "But I don't know him personally. He was here during the summer with his twin sister, right?"

"Yeah," she said. She examined me. "Do you want to grab a jacket or something? It's really cold outside."

"It is?" I said and then cleared my throat. "I mean, um, yeah. I didn't think about that."

"Well go grab one," she said.

I glanced around the shop and then went and grabbed one off the shelf. "This is fine, right?" I asked.

"Um… sure," Red said in response. She brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear. "So… what happened to your eye?"

I stiffened at that, searching my head desperately for an answer. "An accident?" I said, unsure.

"An accident," she repeated. "Is it missing?"

I shook my head. "It just creeps people out so…"

"Are you blind in that eye?" Red asked.

I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it again. My heart was beating rapidly and I wiped the sweat off my forehead with one hand. "It's complicated," I choked out.

"I'm here!" Soos said suddenly, walking into the room. "Let's get going, dudes."

"Right. Yes. Let's," I said quickly.

"We should go straight into the forest," Red said. "Fix the problem there. We can worry about the rampaging unicorns after."

"Okay," Soos said. "Lead the way, Wendy."

Red gave a nod and then took off, opening the front door.

I pulled on my jacket with a sigh then followed after her.

The air outside was remarkably crisp. I didn't expect how cold it had gotten during my time inside the shack. I pulled the jacket closer around me, trying to block off the wind as it picked up.

"I kinda miss having the twins around," Soos said.

"Yeah," Red said. "They usually had a plan when we went to do something like this."

An irrational surge of irritation welled up in me. "Well _I'm_ here," I said.

"Sure, you are," Red said. "No offense, but I don't really know you so… I mean, since you're Soos's cousin, it's cool and all but…You'd have to know those twins. They _always_ managed to find a way to fix the problems they came across. It was actually pretty freaking amazing."

I had to give her that one. If it weren't for those children, I'd be ruling this dimension as my normal self. I wouldn't be stuck in this human body… If that was the case, maybe I should have been directing my frustration towards them.

That's it.

If those two ever showed their faces in Gravity Falls again…

I didn't know what I would do.

I looked down at my hands, rubbing them together, staring at the long fingers.

I didn't have the reality-defying powers I used to have. The most I could do would be express my annoyance by maybe punching Pine Tree with these new fleshy parts.

Yeah, that sounded good, for what it was worth.

Maybe if I did that, his pain would be funny like it used to be.

"Hey, Will," Red said. "You still with me? I didn't hurt your feelings, did I?"

I shook my head. "Of course not. I was just thinking."

"We should take the golf cart," Soos said.

"Nah, too much trouble," Red responded. "We'd probably get there faster, but it might be harder to get away in the woods."

"Maybe we should take it," I mentioned.

Red sighed. "If you guys insist, I suppose we could take it but… I don't think it's a good idea."

"I'm driving!" Soos said, throwing up his hand then went to sit in the front.

Red and I followed behind.

"It only has two seats," Red pointed out.

"I can stand on the back," I said. "It's not a big deal."

"I suppose it would make more sense than sharing a seat," Red mused for a moment. "Maybe we could tie you to the top. That'd be fun."

"Oh thanks," I said. "That sounds really fun."

"Okay, okay," she said, reaching over and messing my hair up with one hand. "Do you think you can hold on?"

"Yeah," I said, patting my hair back into place. "I'm pretty sure I can."

"Okay then," Red got into the other seat and glanced back towards me.

I stepped up onto the back of the golf cart and got a good grip. I bounced a little in place just to make sure it wouldn't fall apart cause I was standing on it.

"I'm good," I said.

"Right, dudes," Soos said. "This is going to be just like old times."

It was time to confront a monster in the woods.


End file.
